Leviticus 19:1 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,"

So in this chapter we will be looking at the holiness of the behavior of both God and man, and what God expects from His children. Here God is speaking to the law giver alone.

Leviticus 19:2 "Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, `Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy."

YHVH, God is addressed as "Lord", and the word "God" is Elhoim the creator. Our Lord is holy and His called His children to be holy also.

Leviticus 19:3 "Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God."

This word for "fear" in the Hebrew text is " 3372"; "Yare, yaw-ray; a prime root; to revere, a moral reverence, to give respect." As we look over the things that are going on around our country and throughout the world, we see evil creeping in all parts of our life, in our schools, homes and the things that families participate in. So think about the two things that are brought up here; the parents, and the Sabbaths, and we see that large segments of our society give little respect to either. These two things are the pillars that make the government stable or floating on a very unstable foundation. When respect for parents and sacred Sabbaths of God falls, little respect is left for anything a nations is built on. The problem in our nation today stems from the fact that large segments of our people respect neither. God is addressing His people here, and this verse is directed to you, if you call yourself one of God's people.

Leviticus 19:4 "Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the Lord your God."

The "idols" spoken of here is "elilim", a non-entities, made of clay or terra cotta "gods", and it comes from vanity. Whereas "graven images or "pesel" in the Hebrew text are idols of wood or stone, and formed by man.

Leviticus 19:5 "And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at your own will."

Notice that these are "peace offerings unto the Lord"; and those offerings must be given "at your own will" . In the prior chapter it discussed that there were other altars, which offered offerings to other gods, but our heavenly Father is pointing out that those peace offering given to Him, are a Diving form of worship. When a person gives one of these offerings it must be to the delight of the person offering the peace offering; not under stress, or being forced to give in. Many time today the peace gift is given expecting something in return; as certain verses are used and stressed by pastors, more or less bribe the person into the gift unto the Lord. Those gifts are given expecting something in return and "not at your own will" of the person making the offering. Then it becomes a "vow" or "obligation" and not a gift. Many ministries today pray on older people and use methods of force, threat, and withholding mailings to con older people to send their vow obligations. My friend, your gift has to be by your own will and delight or it is simply not accepted as a peace offering by God. If your gift is by force or threat of any nature, it is not a peace offering.

Leviticus 19:6 "It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire."

This peace offering must be eaten the same day that it is given up to the Lord. this comes from Leviticus 7:15-18. It was okay to eat the peace offering the day of and following the peace offering, but on the third day, it had to be completely burnt by fire. Keep in mind that this was also part of the health laws, for there were no ways to keep meat fresh at this time in the wilderness. On the third day putrification had set in, and the meat would make you sick.

Leviticus 19:7 "And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted."

Again, on the third day, it [the meat] is abominable, it shall not be accepted. It will not be pleasing or satisfying to either the priest, God or anyone eating the meat. The reason for eating the peace offering was for enjoyment, but this offering would become repugnant.

Leviticus 19:8 "therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the Lord: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people."

The "hallowed thing" is anything that has been set apart, and the penalty for eating this abominable three day old piece of mean that has become repugnant is sickness and death, being cut off for your people.

Leviticus 19:9 "And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest."

After the harvest has been taken in, to go back over the same fields to take in those leftovers in the field was the "gleanings" . It was forbidden by God, for it was to be left in the field for the poor and the foreigners passing through the land.

Leviticus 19:10 "And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard: thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God."

In Deuteronomy 24:20, 21 this gleaning law was also extended to the Olive vineyard to leave the gleanings in the vineyard. In harvest time, they would take long sticks and beat the limbs to get the olives to fall, and those that did not fall, where to be left for the poor and foreigner. If the tree didn't let the olive fall, then leave it and continue with the harvest. In Leviticus 23:22 we see that this was also extended to the corn harvest.

Leviticus 19:11 "Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another."

This was one of the ten commandments that God wrote on stone and Moses delivered to the children of Israel in Exodus 20:15.

Leviticus 19:12 "And ye shall not swear by My name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord."

Ephesians 4:25 tells us that we are all members of the same body in Christ, so to lie to one another is the same as lying to yourself. Real problems start with you start believing your own lies. The point that this verse is directed to is in later chapter of Leviticus, when regulation are set in Israelites using one another's land. They did not sell the land from one Israelite to another, but sold the produce for the land on a yearly basis. Sort of like one farmer renting land from another farmer, that was not going to be used. So what this is talking about is misrepresenting the harvest, to void paying the proper rent for the land.

Leviticus 19:13 "Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning."

You shall not take an oath in God's name falsely; it is to lie about something to keep from paying a man his proper wages. This is saying that if you owe a man a wage for work done, it must be paid the same day that it was earned. However today, there are many things that go into wages, and this is not possible in our generation. Company contracts, union agreements, and delays in the flow of cash make it impossible to follow this law. However, it is addressing that when a wage is agreed to before the work, the one hired must be able to received the wages that was agreed upon before the work was done. If you have day laborers, hired by the day, then each night each must be paid his due coming to him.

Malachi 3:5 "And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hirelings in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me, saith the Lord of host."

God keeps record against each person that does this, and these records are kept in heaven where a crooked judge and sharp attorney can't taint the books. Each person that does this will be judged by what he does, in accordance with His Word.

Leviticus 19:14 "Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the Lord."

When you curse the deaf, the person that can't hear you won't hear the gossip that is being said about him. However God does hear, and in God's time, you will be judged by what comes out of your mouth. God is warning you that if you do these things and continue doing them, you will be accountable for those things that happen to that deaf or blind person before God.

Leviticus 19:15 "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shall thou judge thy neighbour."

The subject of this verse is in a judicial situation, and it ends in the phrase, "judge thy neighbor". What this is saying is that in a court hearing, you will not give added weight to a person out of pity; any more than you would give honor to a person that had a high position in the community. Each report should be weighed on the merits of truthfulness of what is spoken, and should not alter your judgment. We see this going on in a large scale today in our courts and government, where bribes are taken, and a court believes one person over another strictly by the position he holds or by his wealth.

Leviticus 19:16 "Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the Lord."

The "talebearer" is the gossiper, and people just love to listen to a good gossip, and being the first to pass those lies on to another. If this applies to you, Then this verse is a warning to you by God. He is not going to put up with you lies, and you will be accountable for that loose jaw of your that is running wild. This applies to the men just as it applies to woman. Friend, Don't go by what other people say about other people; because any person that would pass on a lie, has no consideration God's people; and what he would say about another person, he or she would have no hesitation of repeating a lie about you. If you have made a judgment about a person and that gossip lie just doesn't fit what you thought; why are you so quick to rush to judgment.

Leviticus 19:17 "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and suffer sin upon him."

The "brother" stated in this verse is a brother in the widest sense; A fellow Christian or even a neighbor. So what this is stating is that you don't bring sin upon yourself, because of the sin that the neighbor or brother has done.

Leviticus 19:18 "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: but thou shalt love thy neightbour as thy self: I am the Lord."

Jesus gave us this same verse in His sermon on the mound; Matthew 7:12; "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law of the prophets." Jesus went on to say in verse 15; "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Again, your neighbor is not the guy living next door, but all those people that you come in contact with.

In verse nineteen we get into another group of statutes that deal with the physical and moral order of things. God was the creator of all physical and natural order that things exist in, and He was happy with His creation.

Leviticus 19:19 "Ye shall keep My statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee."

The order here is that cattle of one gender will not "gender" [copulate] with cattle of another kind, or in the case of crops, "another seed". Don't sow your fields with mixed seeds, nor even blend garments with two different kinds of cloth: Like one thread from an animal, another from a worm, such as silk. The covenant people are God's people [Israel], and God has given the order through His laws given to Moses and passed on to His people; Don't let this happen.

Leviticus 19:20 "And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free."

Here this woman is a slave to a harsh taskmaster, that has taken advantage of his position, and has been forced to have a sexual act with him. Yet when she is found out, she is to beaten because of the act. No beating is given to the man, why? Because this is not a good translation to what is written in the Hebrew text. In the last phrase it says, "they shall not be put to death", and they also shall both be scourged. the translators have a way with this verse to take the man out of harms way.

Leviticus 19:21 "And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering."

Notice that it is the man that took advantage of the bond woman that is to bring the offering to the Lord, for a trespass offering for his sins. Death was the normal penalty for the act of adultery, however the adulterous act was on his part, for as a slave, she did not have the benefit to accept or reject her master.

Leviticus 19:22 "And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the Lord for his sin which he hath done: and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him."

The man recognized the sin that he has committed and came to the Lord in repentance, and God was merciful to forgive him.

Leviticus 19:23 "And when ye shall come into the land [Canaan], and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of.

This next set of verses deal with with first fruits. Remember that this verse was given at the start of the journey through the wilderness, and it is addressing a time a generation ahead, that time when the children of Israel would be in the promise land, the land of Canaan.

For what ever the reason, the fruit from off the trees and from the ground could not be eaten, for it was unclean. Because of the habits of the people that lived in the land before they arrived, the food was not fit to be eaten.

Leviticus 19:24 "But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord withal."

So in the fourth year, the fruit or crops would be considered first fruit, and would be considered holy unto the Lord. So this crop was given to the priest and the sanctuary.

Leviticus 19:25 "And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof: I am the Lord your God."

The reason that: "it may yield unto you", sets up the condition of the person following the set of instructions that God gave to Moses for the people.

Leviticus 19:26 "Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantments, nor observe times."

This order that "Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood:" intensifies the law the God gave to His people. Enchantments deals with "whispering", the casting a spell on a person to seduce or enticing them to do something they were not to do. The "observe times" deals with watching clouds, or day, and assigning luck to it in making a journey; such superstitions as in "Friday the 13th", or certain cloud formation, then putting a spiritual application to the time. God is telling you not to observe these times

Leviticus 19:27 "Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard."

The heathen priests of Canaan cut their hair in a rounded fashion, an shave the corners of their beards. God is warning His people not to pick up any of their customs. This cutting of the hair was done to honor their gods, and this would be an abomination to our Heavenly Father.

Leviticus 19:28 "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord."

Again, this was a custom done in the land of Canaan by the heathen priests, and God warns Israel to stay away from any of the heathen customs of those nations that were in the land of Canaan. To put any marks on your flesh is to profane God's creation.

Leviticus 19:29 "Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness."

This was not talking in a spiritual condition but to the physical nature of turning a daughter into becoming a whore on the streets. Whoredom leads to immorality, that leads to the fall of the nation.

Leviticus 19:30 "Ye shall keep My sabbaths, and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord."

This is to bring morality to both the land and to the people. When you reverence God and His Sanctuary, you are following the laws and commandments that God has set in place for His nation and people. Reverence builds confidence in the Lord, however the mixing of religious ideas does just the opposite, for it brings confusion to the house of God and His instructions. When to much confusion is brought into God's house, the people will even come to the point of whether God even exists.

Leviticus 19:31 "Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God."

God is telling you to don't pay attention to those people that have familiar spirits. "Familiar spirits" are evil spirits personating dead human beings, and attaching themselves only to "mediums" and those who give up their will to them. A dread reality is provided against by these enactments. The word "familiar spirits" comes from the ancient Akkadian word, "ubi" meaning "a charm" used of one who was mistress of the spell or spirit. "Wizards" on the other hand, are not those that have given their will up to evil spirits; but they seek to have occult knowledge, and the things they do are done willingly. "Evil spirits" are taken from a point of weakness, while Wizards act for the strength of carnal knowledge they have in the occult. God is warning us to stay away from both of these kinds of people.

Leviticus 19:32 "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the Lord."

God is telling His people to hold in high regard those men and woman with gray [hoary head] hair. God is honored by the old men, and therefore we are required to listen and refer to the instruction in the ways of God that our elders give.

Leviticus 19:33 "And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him."

If a foreigner comes into your land, you are not to vex or oppress him with a violent nature.

Leviticus 19:34 "But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."

The foreigner that moves into your land, and lives amongst you, you are to accept him as you would one of your own people. It is pointed out here that just two years prior to when this was written, the children of Israel were foreigners in the land of Egypt, and they must remember the oppression that they were under at that time. God is telling Israel not to do the same things to foreigners amongst you, that they did to you.

Leviticus 19:35 "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure."

This is addressing the justice system in your land, it gets into bearing false witness, be giving one man an advantage over another due to riches or a man being poor.

Leviticus 19:36 "Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the Lord your God, Which brought you out of the land of Egypt."

This deals with business, and the balances or stones used in measuring goods being bought and sold. God is telling the people don't use one stone that is larger for selling goods, and smaller when you are buying the same kind of goods. It is like keeping two sets of books for tax sake. The "ephah" is about three pecks, while a "hin" is about one gallon.

Leviticus 19:37 "Therefore shall ye observe all My statutes, and all My judgments, and do them: I am the Lord.' "

God warned the people that just as I brought you out of the land of Egypt, I can also bring you back into that kind of bondage. Therefore, take special thought to keep all My statutes and judgments, and do them. It is like a warning to the people to remember all of this as they enter into the promise land. For in most cases, these people that were given the law at this time would die off in the wilderness, but their offspring would be the ones to enter into the promise land and set up the nation that would honor God, and respect God's laws.